A Different Promise
by Owl of the Moon
Summary: One shot. Rose returns the favor and saves Jack.


**A/N: This is just some fun fluff I came up with. And I think this would have made a much better ending.**

"I love you Jack," Rose said. _It's so cold. And it hurts._

Fear griped Jack's heart at her words. "No. Don't you do that. Don't you say your good-byes."

"I'm so cold," she said, somewhat pathetically.

Jack took her hand at tightly as possible. Though she tried to hide it, the hopelessness in her voice broke through.

"Listen to me Rose. You're going to get out of this...you're going to go on. You're going to make lots of babies, and watch them grow. You're going to die an old, old lady warm in your bed. Not here. Not this night." Jack's teeth chattered harder and harder with each passing second.

"I can't feel my body," Rose moaned. The sound of pain in her voice broke Jack's heart.

"Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me." He struggled to breath in the icy water. "It brought me to you. And I'm so thankful for that Rose." Somehow Jack managed to pull his frozen face into a smile to assure her of his words.

"You must do the me honor," Jack began again, giving her hand the tiniest of squeezes. "You must promise me that you'll survive, that you'll never give up. No matter how hopeless things seem. Promise me Rose, and never let go of that promise."

Through the dark, Rose could see his eyes. Despite that his body was half frozen, the warmth in his eyes still shone on. _Should I? Should I promise to go on without him? _

"I can't promise you that Jack." For a second his heart fell. "Unless you promise me the same thing." A shiver ripped through her.

"Rose," Jack began.

"No Jack. No. I want to make those babies with _you_. I want to watch them grow with _you_. I want the horizon with _you_." Jack stared at her in amazement. He started to think that the dissipating cold and his warming body was not due to hypothermia, but due to her words. "Promise me that Jack."

"I promise Rose." He shivered again and struggled to breathe. Before he could stop her, Rose released his hand and rolled off the door and into the water. "Rose! What are you doing?"

"Get on it Jack." _Shit, this is cold,_ she thought to herself. "Please," she whispered.

Jack thought of arguing, but he knew it would be useless and needed to save his strength. He pulled himself up on the door, feeling a small amount of relief at being out of the icy water. Rose took his place at the edge and took his hands in hers.

"Tell me a story Jack." He looked at her and understood. _She's trying to keep me alive. Well I can't keep that promise if I'm dead._

"About what?" He continued to play with her fingers, curling his in and out of them.

Rose attempted to shrug but couldn't. "I don't care Jack. Anything you want."

Jack smiled and began to tell her about a brawl he once got into in a pub in Ireland. Rose forced herself to pay attention, and managed to let out a small laugh here and there between the shudders from the cold.

Once his story came to an end, Rose knew she had to keep him talking, if not moving around. "I once chopped my hair off." She heard Jack laugh quietly. "I was thirteen and mad at my mother for one reason or another." As Rose went on with her story a sudden light caught Jack's vision.

"Rose, there's a boat," he said, suddenly feeling more hope. She tried to turn to see, but the coldness had settled deep in her bones and her body was stiff. Jack tried to flag them down, but they failed to see him. He called out, but his voice had grown hoarse, something neither of them had noticed until now.

Suddenly Rose remembered something. An officer had been blowing a whistle not to far away from them. She managed to turn and see where his now frozen body was. "Keep waving Jack." She kissed his hand and pulled her hand from his.

Jack watched as she swam the short distance to the officer and pulled the whistle from his lips and started blowing on it.

_**...**_

"You saved my life Rose," Jack whispered, his voice still quiet. He wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her arm as good as he could, attempting to keep her warm.

Carpathia loomed in the distance. Soon they would be safe aboard. Part of her was relieved that this whole ordeal would soon be over. But the other part was reminding her of another ordeal she'd soon have to deal with...Cal and her mother. _We'll cross that bridge when we get there,_ she told herself.

"It's only fair. You saved mine," she said with a smile. Jack smiled back, noticing that he could actually feel his face as he smiled.

He kissed her temple and moved his lips to her ear. "By the way, I love you too Rose."

Rose's face broke into a bigger smile and she turned to kiss his lips. When she pulled away she rested her head on his shoulder. They remained quiet for a few minutes as the lifeboat rowed closer to the Carpathia. Rose recalled what she had told Jack mere moments before Titanic struck the iceberg.

"Jack," she said, pulling her head up to look at him. "When _that_ ship docks, I'm still getting off with you."

Jack laughed and pulled her back into an embrace. "And then we'll head off for the horizon," he promised.


End file.
